- ED on target with FAFSA for December 1
- AACC’s Giving Tuesday initiative
- PBS to produce civics resources for young adults
ED on target with FAFSA for December 1
The U.S. Education Department (ED) announced on Thursday that it’s ready to roll into the fourth and final stage of its gradual rollout of the 2025–26 FAFSA form.
In the final phase, the FAFSA form will be available later this month to all users who want to access it, before officially releasing the form to all on December 1, ED said in a release.
“During that time, the Department will continue to carefully monitor the FAFSA form, overall system performance, and support operations, such as our contact center, and adjust operations as needed,” ED said.
Since ED implemented its FAFSA rollout on October 1, more than 14,000 students have successfully submitted their 2025–26 FAFSA forms, and the department has successfully processed the forms and sent over 81,000 records to more than 1,850 schools and 43 states, according to ED. The department said it has not found any critical bugs during the beta-testing period, and the FAFSA system is working end-to-end.
AACC’s Giving Tuesday initiative
The American Association of Community College (AACC) has launched a Giving Tuesday initiative with participating member colleges to help them raise funds for their food pantries and food access programs.
In partnership with Spotfund, AACC developed a online platform for colleges to crowdfund for the effort. The page has 39 colleges listed, representing 24 states.
The opportunity is free for the participating colleges, and the funds generated go directly to the institutions. The fundraising effort will culminate on Giving Tuesday, December 3.
The concept was brought to AACC by two Princeton alumni who wanted to expand the giving efforts of their graduated classmates to community college students who were struggling to address their basic needs. AACC sent invites to all college foundation directors in September.
PBS to produce civics resources for young adults
PBS News Hour Classroom will develop civics-education resources for community colleges and young adults.
With a $58,000 grant from the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics, an initiative of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, PBS News Hour Classroom will create and publish 32 multimedia resources for adult learners over a 16-month period, beginning in January 2025, according to a release. The resources will be built around short, televised news segments from PBS News, including a series called “America at a Crossroads” hosted by former News Hour anchor Judy Woodruff.
The resources will focus on three areas: Engaging in civil discourse, honing media literacy skills and understanding civic institutions.
“We see these three pathways as critical to young adults not just understanding what is happening in the world around them, but engaging with it as partners and citizens,” said Luke Gerwe, education project manager for PBS News Hour Classroom.
